The International Joint Commission (IJC) is urging shoreline residents to find alternative ways to protect themselves from rising water since it has little influence over water levels throughout the system.

The binational organization said in an online seminar this week that water levels in the Great Lakes have been so high in the last few years, virtually nothing it can do will outmaneuver what Mother Nature has in store.

Jane Corwin, chairwoman of the United States section of the IJC, said the organization is “very concerned” about current water levels and the possibility of flooding next year, but the water management body has limited control over what can be done.

“We must face the reality that the capacity to release enough water to ensure that the lake and river stay at safe levels does not exist,” Corwin said.

“Nature still has more influence over water levels than the IJC does.”

Ultimately, shoreline communities must look to more reliable solutions than regulation of outflows to protect themselves, she added.

“Whatever the IJC attempts to do in terms of remedial actions, we will be doing it in the backdrop of what has been spectacularly high waters in both the United States and Canada.”

The seminar focused on “the realities of water level management” along the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario and it comes amidst growing concerns from riverfront residents and politicians that the IJC was ignoring their concerns.

The 20-minute information session went into detail about how the IJC manages the water system in the face of extreme water levels, particularly in 2017 and 2019.

The presenters said the IJC has no control over the amount of water flowing into the river system, and there is only so much it can do to regulate water levels when the supply reaches unprecedented levels.

Record precipitation in 2017, combined with record high flows from the Ottawa River, served as the main culprit for high water that year in the Lake Ontario basin, it said.

Then, in 2019, wet conditions across the Great Lakes basin resulted in record high flows from Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, and spring flooding from the Ottawa River was higher, and lasted longer, than at any other time in history.

This is the reason for flooding, IJC officials said, not their water management Plan 2014 as is often hypothesized.

“The board is committed to providing all possible relief to shoreline communities on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River during periods of extreme high water supplies, however we are also acutely aware of our limited influence on water levels and must remain realistic about what even the most extraordinary efforts can achieve,” said Tony David, a board member of the International Lake Ontario- St. Lawrence River Board.

“The board continues to consider several options for increasing flows, but to date none of these options provide more than limited relief compared to the current strategy.”

Plan 2014, the IJC’s updated water management plan, went into effect in the fall of 2016. Before that, Plan 1958DD had governed the water flow for decades.

Property owners and politicians say they believe Plan 2014 is harmfully contributing to historically high water levels in the Upper St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario and causing irreparable harm to shoreline properties.

They want officials to revert back to Plan 1958DD – which they said had been working perfectly for years.

Corwin said while many people believe that the IJC caused the floods, or that it could have at least done more to reduce water levels, Plan 1958DD would not have provided significant additional protection.

“In a cruel trick of nature, the floods of 2017 and 2019 took place soon after a new plan for managing flows, called Plan 2014, was put in place,” Corwin said.

David said “new, more reliable solutions are needed to help make communities safer from the extreme water levels that will inevitably occur at some point in the future.”